Top 5 China Companies To Watch In Right Now

Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU  ) can't win them all.

Citigroup analyst Muzhi Li is out with a bearish note on China's leading online search provider.

Li's pessimism isn't new. He has a sell rating on the stock and an $80 price target. However, his new cause for alarm is concern that Baidu's traffic acquisition costs will be moving sharply higher.

Baidu recently held its annual Baidu Union Summit, providing encouraging news to webmasters monetizing their websites through the company. Baidu Union -- similar to Google's more prolific AdSense program -- lets publishers serve up relevant ads alongside their content.

According to Li, Baidu's planned payouts to union members would equal to 13.7% of Citi's revenue target for Baidu this year, up sharply from last year's 8.7% cut. Is Baidu being more generous to keep webmasters close? This doesn't seem necessary. Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU  ) is just starting to monetize its search engine, so it will be a long time before advertisers are willing to pay up for leads through Qihoo 360's network. Qihoo 360's move for an in-house solution means less action for its ad-serving partner Google, and that weakens another potential Baidu rival.

Top 5 China Companies To Watch In Right Now: Sina Corporation(SINA)

SINA Corporation provides online media and mobile value-added services (MVAS) in the People?s Republic of China. It provides advertising, non-advertising, and free services through SINA.com, Weibo.com, and SINA Mobile. SINA.com offers free interest-based channels that provide region-focused format and content, including news, sports, automobile-related news, finance, entertainment, luxury, technology, digital, tools, collectibles, video, music, and wireless application protocol, as well as interactive platform for fashion-conscious users to share comments and ideas on a range of topics, such as health, cosmetics, and beauty. The company's microblogging platform, Weibo.com, enables its users to follow the hottest topics being discussed online, as well as discussions related to people they know. Weibo accounts consist of celebrities, commercial enterprises, government entities, and grass root Internet users. Its SINA Mobile service allows users to receive news and informatio n, download ring tones, mobile games and pictures, and participate in dating and friendship communities. The company also offers SINA Game, which serves as an interactive platform that provides users with downloads and gateway access to popular online games; SINA eReading, a shop for book reviews; SINA.net, an enterprise solutions platform to assist businesses and government bodies; and SINA Mall, an online shopping Website. In addition, it provides a platform for Chinese bloggers; photo-sharing platform; free email, VIP mail, and corporate email for enterprise users; audio and video-based instant messaging tools; proprietary search technology; and classified advertising services, as well as hosts topic-specific discussion forums in Chinese language; and creates user-maintained and supported online communities. The company has strategic cooperation agreement with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited. SINA Corporation was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the Peop le?s Republic of China.

Top 5 China Companies To Watch In Right Now: ChinaEdu Corporation(CEDU)

ChinaEdu Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides educational services to the online degree programs of universities in the People?s Republic of China. It also offers online tutoring services to primary and secondary school students; operates primary and secondary schools; and markets international English language curriculum programs to established learning institutions, as well as international polytechnic programs to vocational schools in China. The company?s online degree programs offer associate and bachelor?s degree programs, including accounting, marketing, finance, business administration, international business, law, civil engineering, education, computer science, literature, project management, marketing, and administrative management. These online degree programs primarily target working adults. Its services also include academic program development, technology services, enrollment marketing, recruiting, student support services, and finance operati ons. The company provides technical, recruiting, and other services for the online degree programs of 27 universities; and technology support services to 7 additional universities that are awaiting regulatory approval to launch their online degree programs. As of December 31, 2010, it served approximately 311,000 online degree programs students, as well as approximately 51,450 students in other businesses. ChinaEdu Corporation was founded in 1999 and is based in Beijing, the People?s Republic of China.

Top 5 Japanese Stocks To Watch For 2014: Suntech Power Holdings Co. LTD.(STP)

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd., a solar energy company, engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of photovoltaic (PV) products. The company also provides engineering, procurement, and construction services to building solar power systems for certain related party and third party customers. Its products include monocrystalline and multicrystalline silicon PV cells; PV modules; and building-integrated photovoltaics products. In addition, the company provides PV system integration services, including designing, installing, and testing PV systems used in lighting for outdoor urban public facilities, as well as in farms, villages, and commercial buildings; and project development services. Its products are used to provide electric power for residential, commercial, industrial, and public utility applications. The company sells its products through value-added resellers, such as distributors and system integrators; and to end users, such as project develo pers primarily in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Benelux, Greece, the United States, Canada, China, the Middle East, Australia, and Japan. Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Wuxi, the People?s Republic of China.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Curtis]

  Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd.(NYSE: STP) closing price in the stock market Tuesday, Jan. 3, was $2.35. STP is trading -3.28% below its 50 day moving average and -46.49% below its 200 day moving average. STP is -78.30% below its 52-week high of $10.83 and 38.24% above its 52-week low of $1.70. STP‘s PE ratio is 30.52 and its market cap is $424.30M.

  Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. is a solar energy company, engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of photovoltaic (PV) products. STP also provides engineering, procurement, and construction services to building solar power systems for certain related party and third party customers.

Top 5 China Companies To Watch In Right Now: Top Image Systems Ltd.(TISA)

Top Image Systems Ltd. provides enterprise solutions for managing and validating content entering organizations from various sources. It develops and markets automated data capture solutions for managing and validating content gathered from customers, trading partners, and employees. The company?s solutions deliver digital content to the applications that drive an enterprise by using technologies, such as wireless communications, servers, form processing, and information recognition systems. It offers eFLOW Unified Content Platform that provides the common architectural infrastructure for its solutions. The company also provides Smart, an automated classification solution, which is the eFLOW plug-in for unstructured content providing single point of entry for information entering the organization; and Freedom, the eFLOW plug-in for semi-structured content that enables customers to identify and capture critical data from semi-structured documents, such as invoices, purchase orders, shipping notes, and checks. In addition, it offers Integra, the eFLOW plug-in for structured content, which provides a solution for data capture, validation, and delivery from structured predefined forms; eFLOW Ability, an integrated module interfacing with SAP systems for automated parking, approval, and posting of invoices and other document within SAP systems; and eFLOW Invoice Reader, an invoice capture and approval solution, which could be deployed and integrated in enterprise accounting environment, such as SAP, Oracle, and other financial systems. Top Image Systems Ltd. sells its products through a network of value-added distributors, systems integrators, original equipment manufacturers, and partners in approximately 40 countries worldwide. It has strategic partnership with SQN Banking Systems (SQN) to incorporate SQN's fraud detection solutions with its eFLOW Banking Platform in the Asia Pacific market. The company was founded in 1991 and is headquartered i n Ramat Gan, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By cnAnalyst]

  Top Image Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:TISA) is the 4th best-performing stock last month in this segment of the market. It was up 84.92% for the past month. Its price percentage change was 102.63% year-to-date.

Top 5 China Companies To Watch In Right Now: ChinaCast Education Corporation(CAST)

ChinaCast Education Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides post-secondary education and e-learning services in China. The company operates in two segments, E-learning and Training Service Group and Traditional University Group. The E-learning and Training Service Group provides post secondary education distance learning services that enable universities and other higher learning institutions to provide nationwide real-time distance learning services. It also provides K-12 educational services, such as broadcast multimedia educational content services to primary, middle, and high schools; and vocational/career training services. The Traditional University Group segment operates private residential universities that offer four-year bachelor?s degree and three-year diploma programs in finance, economics, trade, tourism, advertising, IT, music, foreign languages, tourism, hospitality, computer engineering, law, and art. The company also provides logistic service s. ChinaCast Education Corporation was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Central, Hong Kong.